Hatton-Northwood volleyball player recounts fatal accident: ‘I concealed my face’ – InForum –

NORTHWOOD, N.D. — “It just happened,” Rachel Draxton said.

The 15-year-old was one of 27 people, including the driver and an assistant coach, on a school bus involved in a deadly crash Thursday afternoon, Sept. 14.

The bus, carrying the Northwood-Hatton volleyball team,

collided with a pickup truck at the intersection of Highway 32 and County 4.

The driver of the pickup died from the crash.

“My friend was just braiding my hair, and it just like, happened. I counted how many times we rolled — I covered my face when it happened — so we rolled like three or four times,” Draxton said.

She said she was sitting in the middle of the bus and landed in the back.

Matt Henson / WDAY

Immediately, there was “panic, and everybody was screaming,” Draxton said.

She said most of the girls were able to climb out on their own.

“It was scary, and everyone was helping everybody, and they gave blankets to people sitting on the side,” Draxton said.

Matt Henson / WDAY

The daughter of Northwood Public Schools Superintendent Shane Azure was on the bus, too.

“I’m trying to be dad, administrator, and coordinate everything, but we have a great family here between Hatton and Northwood, with our two schools and our staff. We had people step in, but it was tough, pulling up to that scene,” Azure said as he fought back tears.

His daughter, along with Draxton, is sore mainly from bumps and bruises.

Azure knows it could have been much worse and wanted to publicly thank the team of first responders and hospital staff at Altru for coming together to help his team.

“Kudos to them, and thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said.

Matt Henson is an Emmy award-winning reporter/photographer/editor for WDAY. Prior to joining WDAY in 2019, Matt was the main anchor at WDAZ in Grand Forks for four years. He was born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia and attended college at Lyndon State College in northern Vermont, where he was recognized twice nationally, including first place, by the National Academy for Arts and Science for television production. Matt enjoys being a voice for the little guy. He focuses on crimes and courts and investigative stories. Just as often, he shares tear-jerking stories and stories of accomplishment. Matt enjoys traveling to small towns across North Dakota and Minnesota to share their stories. He can be reached at [email protected] and at 610-639-9215. When he’s not at work (rare) Matt resides in Moorhead and enjoys spending time with his daughter, golfing and attending Bison and Sioux games.